Shawn Reed earned his first career Top Fuel victory Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway, defeating points leader Doug Kalitta in the final round of the 40th NHRA Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish.
The win capped an emotional comeback for Reed, who returned to competition after losing his left index finger in a July crash at Seattle.
Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock), and John Hall (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also opened the Countdown to the Championship playoffs with wins. The Reading event marked the 15th of 20 stops on the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule and the first of six playoff races.
Reed powered his Reed Trucking & Excavating dragster to a 3.844-second run at 326.63 mph in the final round. He advanced past Kyle Satenstein, Shawn Langdon, and No. 1 qualifier Clay Millican before beating Kalitta, and the victory allowed him to climb to fifth in the points. Reed’s triumph came one week after he returned to action at an IHRA event in Hebron, Ohio – a race that he also won.
“Honestly, you couldn’t even write it any better — just a storybook weekend,” Reed said. “For what happened to me in Seattle, what happened to our team there, and then Jordan Vandergriff stepping in to keep our crew going, this car’s been good. I’ve been telling everybody for a long time that we were going to surprise a lot of people. We just had to get our Sunday morning thing figured out, and today we finally broke through.”
Kalitta advanced to his fourth final of the season with wins against Antron Brown, Tony Stewart, and Steve Torrence. In his matchup with Stewart, Kalitta’s dragster crossed the centerline past the finish line and collided with Stewart’s car, which tipped onto its side before returning to its wheels and striking the wall. Both drivers exited under their own power. Kalitta leaves Reading with a lead of 18 points over Stewart and 33 over Langdon.
Pedregon snapped a 55-race winless streak in Funny Car, defeating Blake Alexander in the final with a 3.969 at 330.63 in his Snap-On Tools Dodge Hellcat. The two-time world champion earned his 40th career victory with his first trip to the winners circle since 2022.
Pedregon reached his first final of the season by defeating Bob Tasca III, points leader Austin Prock, and Paul Lee. He moved to sixth in points with the victory – his third at Maple Grove Raceway.
“This is very special, very special,” Pedregon said. “You know, you start to doubt yourself — as an owner, as a driver — and I’ve done that a lot the last couple of years. I thought, ‘Maybe this is it.’ But we took the hard road. I hired young guys who weren’t already on other teams. It was like a draft.”
Alexander advanced to his first final of the season by defeating Matt Hagan, No. 1 qualifier Spencer Hyde, and Ron Capps. Prock left Reading with a 25-point lead over Jack Beckman and 29 over Capps.
Glenn continued his dominance in Pro Stock, posting a 6.557 at 209.23 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to beat first-time finalist Cody Coughlin in the championship round. Glenn, who entered as the points leader, collected his fifth win of the year and 18th of his career.
Glenn qualified No. 1 and knocked out Shane Tucker, Deric Kramer, and KB Titan Racing teammate Greg Anderson, who was disqualified before their duel for crossing the beams during burnouts. The win gave Glenn his first Maple Grove victory and a 62-point lead over Anderson.
“You definitely come in here and my goal every race in the Countdown is to leave with a little bit more of a lead — and we definitely capitalized on that today,” Glenn said. “Having Cody Coughlin in the final, with me taking out Erica Enders and Eric Latino taking out Aaron Stanfield — it was just a wild weekend. They call [Maple Grove] the ‘House of Chaos’ for a reason.”
Coughlin reached the final with round wins over Troy Coughlin Jr., six-time NHRA champion Enders, and Eric Latino.
Hall added his name to the Pro Stock Motorcycle title fight with a win over teammate Matt Smith in the final. Hall ran 6.802 at 199.70 on his American Rebel Light/Matt Smith Racing Buell for his second win of 2025 and first at Maple Grove.
Hall defeated Kelly Clontz, reigning champion Gaige Herrera, and rookie Brayden Davis before he ousted Smith.
“They’re all special for me. To do it in the Countdown is great because, I mean, there’s six races in the Countdown — you’ve got to bring your A-game,” Hall said. “We had a new tire on there that wasn’t working for us. We put the old tire back on, which worked out. We went four 6.80s in a row.”
Smith reached his fourth final of the year by beating Brandon Litten, Jianna Evaristo, and Richard Gadson. He now leads the standings by six points over Hall and Herrera, with Gadson just nine back in fourth.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series continues Friday through Sunday, Sept. 19-21, with the NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.
